3/09/2009

A bout of lice in our house finally had me reassessing the apartment-sized stacked washer and dryer that fit about three pairs of jeans at a time. It choked on the duvet, coming to a stuttering halt several times, so that I would have to dunk my hands into the cold sudsy water to rearrange the load.
So off to Home Depot I went where I met Harry, who so sweetly helped me when the regular appliance dude was off on lunch. When it became clear I might actually be buying something, Home Depot jumped and Harry was my savior. He steered me swiftly into the expensive LG (to be fair, this was already the one I was after, given all the great online reviews). It was on sale. We got on the computer where we were prompted to order the extra plug and dryer connection set, removal of the old set ($15 to move it downstairs so I could sell it on Craigslist sounded like the bargain of the century. I wanted to ask if they could move a few other things while they were at it), the pricey extended warranties which Harry gave me the warning eye about, not to bother. I wanted to hug him at that moment. He joked with Carter and dubbed him "King." He actually hugged me when I was done. If Harry hadn't mentioned a wife, I might have asked him out. Gotta love Home Depot!
Two days later, the delivery arrived, but apparently, I hadn't ordered a stacking kit. Inexplicably, it wasn't an option on the handy "check-box" screen at Home Depot. I had to refuse the order, call Home Depot, re-do the order (to be fair, they didn't charge me the $30 for the stacking kit) and have it redelivered 2 days later (I might add that at this point, all lice-infested laundry has now been through the mini stackable over the course of about 100 loads, and the lice had been nit-picked into oblivion by this pernicious Virgo).
Finally, the big day arrived. The installers grunted the old reliable down the stairs and hauled the two high efficiency front loaders up. And then the fun began.
Turns out I only have one outlet (since old reliable was just one unit, and not two). I dashed downstairs to find an extension cord. Once the machines were in, I realized that I now had only about 2 square feet of space in which to maneuver and open the doors and put the now giant loads in. For some reason, the front loaders needs a ton more room in the back. But the kicker (and what they don't tell you about stacking these puppies) is that once the dryer is on top of the washer, the controls for it are about 6 feet in the air. I am lucky to be 5'10", so its not terrible for me, though opening the drawer to put water in for the steam dry option is done blind. If I want my kids to ever do their own laundry, I will have to be installing a step ladder. Given that this unit was designed by Koreans, I have to wonder what they do? Perhaps stacking it isn't an option in Korea.
That said, right at this moment I have not only a duvet, but also a duvet cover and two pillow cases stuffed into the washer where my son sits and watches it spin. When its done, it tinkles this lovely little chimey song, which is, I suppose a Korean version of "your laundry is all done now, and we were happy to do it for you!"
That laundry song makes it all worthwhile.